Easily the most successful season of her athletics career, everything the Shepparton resident touched turned to gold, as she seemingly crushed personal bests for fun.
Highlighted by winning six state championships across multiple disciplines and placing in the Oceania, Baldi set personal records in hammer throw, shot put and triple jump throughout the year.
Her exploits also had her named 2021 Shepparton Athletics Club Athlete of the Year and claim the most personal bests of anybody at the club.
Baldi’s dominance in athletics resulted in her capturing state-wide attention, culminating in Victoria Sports announcing her as one of four finalists for its Involve Masters Athlete of the Year award.
Travelling to Melbourne tonight for the awards ceremony, Baldi said it was an incredible honour to be recognised after all the hard work she put into season 2021.
“It is extremely special to be recognised as a finalist, especially when you look at the calibre of the other finalists with Jason Lees being a Paralympian,” Baldi said.
“2021 was obviously the best season I’ve had since coming back to athletics after a few years off and I definitely give a lot of credit to Shepparton Athletics Club for facilitating the COVID-affected season.
“A lot of hard work and dedication went into the season and to surpass the goals I had going in was very pleasing.”
But while 2021 was filled with so many triumphant highs, it would also hand Baldi one of her most crushing blows, as she ruptured her ACL while playing cricket in December.
Now facing a near two-year wait for reconstructive surgery, she said the injury had made the award nomination somewhat bittersweet as her athletics career hung in the balance.
“Coming off the back of an amazing season and continuing to show more improvement in my off-season training, it was devastating to rupture my ACL playing cricket which is just my fun sport,” she said.
“It’s not only physically difficult, but it is also very tough mentally having to watch events I know I could be competing very strongly at.
“But I know that I’ve got a fantastic team of friends and family around that are helping me and I’m just moving forward as best as I can.”
As she continues to recover from her devastating knee injury, Baldi has remained actively involved with Shepparton Athletics Club, assisting in the coaching ranks and expanding her officiating resumé.
She explained how helpful the club had been in keeping her positive through the tough times and some of her goals moving forward.
“I am really struggling with my knee and there is quite a significant wait until surgery, so for me it is about focusing on other things,” she said.
“I’ve become really involved in coaching and officiating and I still turned up every Friday during summer on crutches to officiate.
“So I would really love to officiate at the Brisbane 2032 Olympics, and with the regional Victoria Commonwealth Games coming up as well, I would love to be involved in that also.”
As for what it would mean to take out the coveted Involve Masters Athlete of the Year award, Baldi said it would be nothing short of a dream come true.
“I know that there is every possibility I may never compete again due to my injury, so something like this would be truly special for me.” —Alana Baldi
“I haven’t thought about that because I don’t think I will win it,” she said.
“But if I was to win it, I don’t know how I would feel, even thinking about it gets me emotional because just being a finalist means so much.
“I know that there is every possibility I may never compete again due to my injury, so something like this would be truly special for me.”
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